Buying that awesome computer on a not so awesome budget!
There’s nothing more disappointing than going to your local electronics store with a $300 dollar budget and finding that sick new laptop notebook on the shelf and seeing a $1200 price tag. So I’ve decided to give you a few tips on how to shop for a sleek new computer that won’t leave you swatting away at the moths flying out of your lint filled pockets.
The first thing is to ask yourself, “What am I going to use this laptop notebook for?” Make sure you have a general idea of what you are going to do with it. If you’re a student and like myself, more than likely you’re going to be typing up papers for that next big project that’s due in a couple days and the last thing you want is to run out of gigs at the last minute from all the music, movies and games that are saved on your drive.
For this blog however, let’s keep it simple, and bring up the most important things to consider; a reasonably sized hard drive, a good processor, and memory. Now I’m sure you are asking yourself, “Joey, how big of a hard drive is substantial for what I’m going to be doing?” Well you don’t want to spend too much money on space you are never going to use. If you’re just saving your homework, downloading a few songs and videos you found while you’re surfing the web and playing that cool new game you just bought, about 80Gigs is sufficient, and in all reality most operating systems only require about 20Gigs to run. Ideally though, 150GB’s-250GB’s would be great, so keep your eye out for that deal.
Here are some system requirements for most operating systems - One gig of memory is usually enough unless you buy a 64-bit computer, than you will need two gigs, but for now let’s just stick with that 32-bit laptop to keep the price down. 1 GHz processor is sufficient to run any operating system (32 or 64-bit). You can buy DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher so you can play that cool Youtube video.
So if you’re not producing the next big Hollywood film or doing some serious computing, it’s best to just stick with the essentials. Now if you’re going to want to connect wirelessly, just make sure you buy a wireless card that supports 802.11G, and if it’s too expensive to buy it with the laptop, you can always find a wireless USB adapter on eBay for about 12 bucks.
Make sure and shop around and do your homework before you buy. Check websites like tigerdirect.com, and Google the specs on the computer you want to buy and see if there are any good deals out there. Remember HP and Microsoft are always giving deals to students on new computers and software. Apple also has a great deal from May 25 through Sep 7, 2010 where you buy a Macbook for college, and get a free iPone touch. How cool is to get a free iPhone touch?
Hey you might be able to find an older computer on eBay for 20 bucks without an operating system and Linux is always free. Keep these things in mind when you go to buy and you’ll find yourself a computer that your friends will envy.
If you have any questions or anything interesting to add on computer security or really anything computer related, write it in the comment section or feel free to email me at joey(at)lufayo.com. Also check out my personal website www.lufayo.com.
Joey Lucero
